Laguna Beach Local News » Tom Osbornehttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com
A Firebrand Media PublicationSun, 02 Aug 2015 17:00:50 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Green Lighthttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-18/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-18/#commentsFri, 26 Jun 2015 02:30:42 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=47701Three Amigos of Aliso Creek No, this is not a tale about three South Laguna gunslingers dueling at high noon with a sheriff’s posse from “big town,” some four miles north of here. Instead, armed with nothing more than our thoughts and dedication to protecting our local ocean, Mike Beanan, Jinger Wal...

No, this is not a tale about three South Laguna gunslingers dueling at high noon with a sheriff’s posse from “big town,” some four miles north of here. Instead, armed with nothing more than our thoughts and dedication to protecting our local ocean, Mike Beanan, Jinger Wallace, and I traveled together to the California Coastal Commission meeting in Newport Beach on the morning of June 11. We thought that keeping the Commissioners and the agency’s Long Beach office staff informed of happenings along Laguna’s shore would be a good idea, especially since that office has been helping us with habitat maps of Aliso Creek and its once existing estuary.

The Commission meeting that morning was attended by roughly 100 people, with more arriving shortly after the start time of 9 am. In public comments, the “Three Amigos” testified on various matters relating to South Laguna’s coastal waters.

Jinger Wallace, a retired high school history teacher and ocean steward representing the Laguna Bluebelt Coalition, a civic organization she co-founded, described the enthusiasm in Laguna for our Marine Protected Areas.

Moreover, she mentioned the ongoing work of the Bluebelt to educate the public regarding the new regulations intended to restore California’s marine life. She noted that improving water quality in our MPAs is an important goal of the Bluebelt. Jinger asked the Coastal Commissioners to help eliminate the illegal discharges at Aliso Beach that are a result of surfers who daily dig out the berm to create a standing wave. Fun as it may be, it is a public safety issue and pollutes our coastal zone where families and children swim and recreate.

Next, I went to the rostrum and gave the Commissioners a heads-up on efforts of the Laguna Beach Recreation Committee to explore the possibility of siting a skateboard park on the grassy area located on the inland side of Aliso Creek Park, between the watercourse and the parking lot. This patch of land, abutting the creek, belongs to the County of Orange. A number of Lagunans, I said, favored a restoration of the estuary that existed in the grassy area in the early 1970s. In that regard, I mentioned the $300,000 grant that the Coastal Commission’s sister agency, the California Coastal Conservancy, had recently bestowed on the Laguna Ocean Foundation to conduct a feasibility study on restoring the Aliso Creek Estuary. If the city of Laguna Beach, nonetheless, approves a skateboard park at the site in question, I told the Commissioners, I would join others in appealing such a decision to them. Finally, I noted that the Coastal Act aims at preserving estuarial habitat where possible, especially when such preservation has positive impacts on ocean water quality.

Water advocate Mike Beanan rounded out our joint presentations by detailing the negative impact on ocean ecology due to the daily emptying of some 1 to 5 million gallons of polluted, inland urban runoff into the ocean. Until recent decades, healthy tidewater goby inhabited the estuary at the site in question. This important “indicator” species cannot survive in the degraded creek flow today. Further, he related the contaminated runoff to algae blooms and acidification, both of which harm our coastal receiving waters. The breaching of the berm by local young people who ride the toxic mix on floatation devices only aggravates an already serious problem, Beanan told Commissioners. He added that such breaching, which he monitors and documents regularly, constitutes a violation of provisions within the Coastal Act.

With our mission accomplished for the time being, at least, the Three Amigos rode south to our homes near the South Laguna badlands. Count on it: we will return.

Tom Osborne, a former recipient of the city’s Environmental Award, is writing a book on Peter Douglas’s tenure as executive director of the California Coastal Commission. The work is under contract with the University of California Press.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-18/feed/0Green Lighthttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-17/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-17/#commentsFri, 29 May 2015 00:50:20 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=47074Aliso Creek Back to the Future $1.6 million! That’s what was recently paid for William Wendt’s painting, “The Old Coast Road.” The amount was more than twice the anticipated selling price for this iconic work of art. This brought to mind a color plate I saw long ago of Wendt’s painting of “The Windi...

$1.6 million! That’s what was recently paid for William Wendt’s painting, “The Old Coast Road.” The amount was more than twice the anticipated selling price for this iconic work of art. This brought to mind a color plate I saw long ago of Wendt’s painting of “The Winding Stream,” (“Old Bridge at Aliso Creek,” Laguna Beach, c. 1917). Another one of Wendt’s masterpieces going back a near century ago, this oil on canvas depicting Aliso Creek and its estuary speaks to me. It drove me to write this column.

I contrasted in my mind the elysian scene out of Laguna’s past captured so stunningly by Wendt with the urbanized, degraded, unhealthful Aliso Creek of today. That watercourse daily empties its toxic brew into the ocean at our doorstep at the rate of more than 1 million gallons per day. Like others before me, I let my mind drift to images of what the waters near the mouth of Aliso Creek might look like if the bygone, paved over wetlands were brought back for future Lagunans. Might it look something like Wendt’s painting? I wondered. Assuredly, a reclaimed estuary would help filter toxins otherwise headed for the ocean, thereby enhancing public health and safety. Migrating whales, kelp, and other marine life would benefit as well. So coupled with my love of waterscapes everywhere, Laguna’s venerable art colony heritage has inspired me to work for estuarial restoration.

The prospects for that restoration happening were greatly enhanced by the $300,000 grant awarded by the California Coastal Conservancy to the Laguna Ocean Foundation. LOF board member Ed Almanza did an extraordinary job of writing the grant proposal.

Curious about how officialdom has gone on record about the restoration goal, I went online and came away with high hopes for bringing “the lagoon back to Laguna,” as award-winning local Bluebelt ocean activist Mike Beanan phrases it. In the words/actions of just a few of these officials (source scc.ca.gov) and civic groups:

Laguna Beach City Council on March 31, voted unanimously, 5-0, to direct the City Manager to assign senior City staff to become involved and “to enthusiastically endorse and support the project.”

To be clear, these letters endorsed the concept of a restored Aliso Creek Estuary and urged that the state of California help fund a feasibility study. The results of that study, which will be undertaken by credentialed experts on riparian habitats and related matters, should be known in late 2017. Many hope that a restoration plan will result because that has been our longtime dream.

A small, vocal group comprising a subcommittee of the recreation committee does not share this dream. Instead, they’re planning a skateboard park for the inland side of the Aliso Creek Park. That subcommittee has other options to consider because skateboard parks can be sited in more than one type of locale. Estuaries, however, can only exist at or near the mouth of a watercourse.

The dream of estuary restoration resonates with the art colony, ocean-identified Laguna heritage. Just imagine how future generations of Laguna students might one day be able to take field trips to their own restored wetlands to see tidewater goby and learn about ocean ecology. William Wendt’s evocative painting of old Aliso Creek may just take our citizenry back to the future. I hope so.

Tom Osborne received Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award in 2009, and is writing a book on Peter Douglas and the California Coastal Commission, under contract with the University of California Press.

In the ongoing, fractious city council election, Lagunans have been jolted by Jon Madison’s inability to validate implausible, phony academic achievements. Lagunans received another jolt at the Firebrand Media-organized candidate forum on Oct. 14 when candidate Michele Hall expressed mocking skepticism about human-caused global warming in response to a question from the audience.

Shocked about this skepticism, which ignores an overwhelming 97 percent scientific consensus that human-induced climate warming is a major peril, I spoke with Ms. Hall at the close of the forum.

She said she was familiar with the world-renowned National Academy of Sciences, but seemed unaware of the Academy’s findings that human-caused global warming was occurring and is serious. Then I asked her if she reads Scientific American magazine, which has published numerous articles on this topic, and she said, “no.” She cited Dennis McTighe of Stu News as her source or scientific authority for her view. I don’t know Mr. McTighe’s expertise on this matter, but if Ms. Hall is correctly channeling him then they are both outliers far beyond the pale of mainstream science as represented by the National Academy of Sciences, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and countless premier university science departments the world over.

Given that conservative Republicans are usually, though not always, in the forefront of those either denying the existence of global warming or claiming that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions have nothing to do with the phenomenon, I suspect that Ms. Hall’s view derives from her political ideology rather than her objective look at evidence and the plenitude of academic studies.

I’m not objecting to healthy skepticism. Many of the world’s most prominent climatologists, like Dr. James Hansen (formerly of NASA), originally dismissed the likelihood of human-caused global warming. In some cases it took years of their own research to change their minds.

By the late 1990s, however, only a minute segment of the scientific community remained in doubt about the reality, sources, and magnitude of global climate change. The skepticism and denial that now remains is patently unhealthy. It puts not just Laguna Beach but the entire planet at risk due to the increasing ravages of global warming: floods, severe droughts ruining croplands, ocean acidification imperiling marine life, and sea-rise that is projected to destroy trillions of dollars worth of homes and commercial real estate situated along America’s coastlines. In the South Pacific, island homelands are being submerged and could disappear. Moreover, the Pentagon warns that climate change is threatening international security.

I wish I could be as undisturbed as Ms. Hall appears to be about all of this. Does she realize that tens of thousands of cities nationwide are acting by implementing policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions? Our federal government has been blocked from taking action by the oil/energy lobby and its shills in Congress.

Has she read the city of Laguna Beach’s Climate Protection Action Plan that took two years to write and get approved by Council in 2009? If elected, would she assume responsibility for implementing that plan? Of course, since she doesn’t believe human usage of fossil fuels is the major cause of warming, she would likely have little incentive to read or implement this document that puts our city on record as having taken action to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

To Ms. Hall’s credit, she supports peripheral parking, which, like the free trolley, is a practical, effective step in cutting emissions.

In this city of comparatively sophisticated, informed voters we need to ask: does this candidate demonstrate an adequate level of curiosity, critical thinking, knowledge, and concern about what is arguably the most critical environmental issue of our time? Can Laguna Beach afford to have sitting on the council a person (or persons) seemingly driven far more by a conservative political ideology than by facts?

Tom Osborne received the city’s Environmental Recognition Award in 2008 for chairing the work group that wrote Laguna’s Council-approved Climate Protection Action Plan.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-16/feed/7Be Prepared for Seductionhttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/prepared-seduction/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/prepared-seduction/#commentsFri, 27 Jun 2014 02:41:08 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=39185 Don’t drive a Tesla . . . unless you’re prepared to be utterly smitten by its features and performance and sticker-shocked at the $100,000 plus price tag. I drove the Model S recently and experienced both shock and awe. As a proud, Volvo-driving, tree-hugger living on the retirement income of...

Don’t drive a Tesla . . . unless you’re prepared to be utterly smitten by its features and performance and sticker-shocked at the $100,000 plus price tag. I drove the Model S recently and experienced both shock and awe.

As a proud, Volvo-driving, tree-hugger living on the retirement income of a community college professor, I confess to coveting a neighbor’s sleek, 2013 black Tesla. So intrigued have I been about this iconic California-designed and made automobile that I contacted its owner, John (not his real name), whom I had just met. I asked him about his satisfaction level regarding his car. An engineer and young father with close-cropped hair, he said he “loved” the vehicle.

Then I asked him why he bought it. John gave four reasons in the following order. First, he saw the vehicle as the best one for purposes of combatting global warming. “There are no emissions because there is no engine.” You don’t even have to deal with leakage of transmission fluid? I asked naively and incredulously. “There’s no transmission,” he answered. Second, John said he bought the car as a step toward reducing our nation’s reliance on Middle East oil. Third, he did not want to contribute another dime toward America’s unsustainable carbon-based economy and oil companies, in particular, which profit hugely from it. Fourth, he wanted to buy a car made in our country. From my own independent inquiries over the past dozen years, all of these reasons resonated with me.

“Would you like to test-drive it?” he asked me. “I’d love to,” I said. A few days later John came by and picked me up at my home. He drove us to the Tesla electric charging station in San Juan Capistrano. En route, John demonstrated the car’s accelerating power (Tesla’s go from 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds) and discussed the breaking system. On a fully charged battery, the car has a driving range of 265 miles. Charging stations are fairly numerous and strategically located in California and elsewhere, with many more anticipated. On arrival at the charging station he had me insert an electricity-transmitting hose into the proper receptacle on the car. During the 20 minutes we charged the battery, he pointed out carrying spaces in both the front and rear of the vehicle. While sitting inside, John demonstrated the highly advanced computerized functions appearing on a sizable screen near the steering wheel. In addition to the standard navigation functions, he pointed out the graph on the screen that indicated the expenditure of electricity during the drive to the charging station. John then handed me his electronic starting device and I drove us back to Laguna Beach. The car handled like a dream: it was responsive, noiseless, and comfortable beyond words. Though I’m not a car guy, the driving experience was exhilarating.

John asked me if I knew about the safety rating of the Tesla. In this instance I was able to say that I had done a little reading on that matter. One press release I came across carried the title: “Tesla Model S Achieves Highest Safety Rating of Any Car Ever Tested.” The article went on to describe the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s independent analysis that concluded in crashes Tesla’s had the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants.

While our family’s two old Volvos will run indefinitely, they are not green by today’s standards, and sadly the new models are not impressive, much less justifiable, environmentally. So my wife and I are counting on Elon Musk, Tesla genius that he is, to produce an electric car that will fit our pocketbook.

Readers’ takeaway: don’t test drive a Tesla unless you’re prepared to be seduced in every way and have the bank account to acquire what will surely become the new object of your heart’s desire.

Tom Osborne authored “Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California” (2013) and received Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award for leading the work group that wrote the city’s Climate Protection Action Plan.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/prepared-seduction/feed/0Hiking Badlands for Good Healthhttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/hiking-badlands-good-health-3/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/hiking-badlands-good-health-3/#commentsFri, 07 Feb 2014 16:10:19 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=36189 For those of us who like hiking, south Laguna offers a labyrinth of scruffy, scenic trails. Thanks to the County of Orange, the South Laguna Civic Association (full disclosure: I’m a board member), and other environmentally minded groups and citizens, public access to these paths was and rem...

For those of us who like hiking, south Laguna offers a labyrinth of scruffy, scenic trails. Thanks to the County of Orange, the South Laguna Civic Association (full disclosure: I’m a board member), and other environmentally minded groups and citizens, public access to these paths was and remains secured. Of late, I’ve come to appreciate more fully the health benefits of an activity that for years I’ve been doing purely for enjoyment and challenge.

On Thursday mornings I regularly go for a hike in the hills near our south Laguna home. It usually takes me 20 minutes to make it from my kitchen door to Aliso Peak. I go from a sliver of an ocean view at our south Laguna home to a panoramic 180 degree scan of the coast, whitewater included, at Aliso Summit. Out of breath, I take a swig of water from my pocket-sized bottle, and envision Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s flagship, San Salvador, sailing northward from Mexico in 1542, past Laguna, in search of the mythical Strait of Anián (Northwest Passage). Sometimes, too, I wonder whether our historic Acjachemen tribes people, the earliest known settlers in the area, stood where I’m standing, perhaps scouting game and marveling at the seascape. If so, I’ve figured that they, or animals before them, blazed the steep, well-worn Valido Trail that I and many others have since traversed countless times. When my brief reverie ends, I descend from the peak and make my way up a fire road cutting through chaparral-covered open space to the gated Laguna Sur residential development in Laguna Niguel.

Passing through the guarded gate on Talavera Drive, I walk a few hundred yards seaward to a paved fire road that takes me southward to the Laguna Ridge Trail en route to Badlands Park. That area was so-named because some thought the sandstone outcroppings and caves were reminiscent of South Dakota’s fabled outlaw hideouts. The trail of decomposed granite runs along an 800-foot-high shelf cut into the sandstone hill, which was a beach some 10 millennia ago, overlooking south Laguna. As from Aliso Summit, the view of the south Laguna coast from the ridge trail is stunning. With the Dana Point headlands in sight, I make a hairpin turn at the trail’s end and retrace my path homeward.

On arrival, I gauge my health benefits. In addition to the feeling of well-being I check my Runkeeper app, which usually says I expended about 850 calories during the course of this 6.2-mile hike. That helps with weight control, and maintaining aerobic fitness and leg strength. Equally important, each hike means a victorious round in the ongoing modern age fight against what I’ll call “sedentary-itis,” an affliction targeting couch potatoes, and writers like me.

Battling a sedentary lifestyle, I’ve recently learned, is imperative if one wants to remain healthy and physically active. In the Jan. 8 issue of the UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter, to which our family subscribes, the following question and answer appeared:

“Q: Will going to the gym counteract all the adverse effects of sitting all day?

A: No. Sitting too much has adverse effects, notably on blood vessel function, independent of exercise levels. . . and actually increases the risk of premature death. Recent research has found that this is true even in people who exercise and are thin. Try to break up prolonged sitting time by getting up every hour or two and walking for a few minutes.”

This was unwelcome news to me because it meant my one-hour per day of vigorous gym exercise or hiking did not counteract my regimen of sitting for hours at my computer. Yikes! Maddening! For health of body and mind, it must be time to leave my chair, bid my computer adios for the time being, and head out for the Badlands.

Tom Osborne wrote “Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California.”

Editor’s Note: Green Light is reprinted in full again due to a production error in the column in the Jan. 31 edition.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/hiking-badlands-good-health-3/feed/0Green Lighthttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-15/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-15/#commentsFri, 31 Jan 2014 21:08:18 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=36043For those of us who like hiking, south Laguna offers a labyrinth of scruffy, scenic trails. Thanks to the County of Orange, the South Laguna Civic Association (full disclosure: I’m a board member), and other environmentally minded groups and citizens, public access to these paths was and remains se...

For those of us who like hiking, south Laguna offers a labyrinth of scruffy, scenic trails. Thanks to the County of Orange, the South Laguna Civic Association (full disclosure: I’m a board member), and other environmentally minded groups and citizens, public access to these paths was and remains secured. Of late, I’ve come to appreciate more fully the health benefits of an activity that for years I’ve been doing purely for enjoyment and challenge.

On Thursday mornings I regularly go for a hike in the hills near our south Laguna home. It usually takes me 20 minutes to make it from my kitchen door to Aliso Peak. I go from a sliver of an ocean view at our south Laguna home to a panoramic 180 degree scan of the coast, whitewater included, at Aliso Summit. Out of breath, I take a swig of water from my pocket-sized bottle, and envision Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s flagship, San Salvador, sailing northward from Mexico in 1542, past Laguna, in search of the mythical Strait of Anián (Northwest Passage). Sometimes, too, I wonder whether our historic Acjachemen tribes people, the earliest known settlers in the area, stood where I’m standing, perhaps scouting game and marveling at the seascape. If so, I’ve figured that they, or animals before them, blazed the steep, well-worn Valido Trail that I and many others have since traversed countless times. When my brief reverie ends, I descend from the peak and make my way up a fire road cutting through chaparral-covered open space to the gated Laguna Sur residential development in Laguna Niguel.

Passing through the guarded gate on Talavera Drive, I walk a few hundred yards seaward to a paved fire road that takes me southward to the Laguna Ridge Trail en route to Badlands Park. That area was so-named because some thought the sandstone outcroppings and caves were reminiscent of South Dakota’s fabled outlaw hideouts. The trail of decomposed granite runs along an 800-foot-high shelf cut into the sandstone hill, which was a beach some 10 millennia ago, overlooking south Laguna. As from Aliso Summit, the view of the south Laguna coast from the ridge trail is stunning. With the Dana Point headlands in sight, I make a hairpin turn at the trail’s end and retrace my path homeward.

On arrival, I gauge my health benefits. In addition to the feeling of well-being I check my Runkeeper app, which usually says I expended about 850 calories during the course of this 6.2-mile hike. That helps with weight control, and maintaining aerobic fitness and leg strength. Equally important, each hike means a victorious round in the ongoing modern age fight against what I’ll call “sedentary-itis,” an affliction targeting couch potatoes, and writers like me.

Battling a sedentary lifestyle, I’ve recently learned, is imperative if one wants to remain healthy and physically active. In the Jan. 8 issue of the UC Berkeley Wellness Newsletter, to which our family subscribes, the following question and answer appeared:

“Q: Will going to the gym counteract all the adverse effects of sitting all day?

A: No. Sitting too much has adverse effects, notably on blood vessel function, independent of exercise levels. . . and actually increases the risk of premature death. Recent research has found that this is true even in people who exercise and are thin. Try to break up prolonged sitting time by getting up every hour or two and walking for a few minutes.”

This was unwelcome news to me because it meant my one-hour per day of vigorous gym exercise or hiking did not counteract my regimen of sitting for hours at my computer. Yikes! Maddening! For health of body and mind, it must be time to leave my chair, bid my computer adios for the time being, and head out for the Badlands.

Tom Osborne, a recipient of Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award, wrote Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California, and currently is working on a book on Peter Douglas and the California Coastal Commission (University of California Press).

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-15/feed/0Green Lighthttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/sustainable-tourism-coasts-southeast-asia/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/sustainable-tourism-coasts-southeast-asia/#commentsFri, 06 Dec 2013 22:01:27 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=34691 Sustainable Tourism on the Coasts of Southeast Asia My family’s recent tour of countries and coastlines in Southeast Asia yielded good and bad news. The bad news is that beaches bordering the Andaman Sea are being overrun, ironically, by folks like me. The good news is that some countries an...

Sustainable Tourism on the Coasts of Southeast Asia

My family’s recent tour of countries and coastlines in Southeast Asia yielded good and bad news. The bad news is that beaches bordering the Andaman Sea are being overrun, ironically, by folks like me. The good news is that some countries and hotels located along these shores show an appreciation of the need for environmentally sustainable practices. While this concern for sustainability is welcome, I wonder about the prospect of green consciousness and policies spreading fast and far enough to save some of the world’s most desirable travel destinations from ecological collapse due to overuse. I also ponder whether there are any lessons for us in Laguna Beach.

Of the three countries we toured–Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand–Singapore showed by far the greatest level of environmental awareness. Staying at the Swissotel in Singapore, we explored by subway and on foot a number of sites, among them the Maritime Experiential Museum and Marine Life Park. The latter features the S.E.A. Aquarium, reputedly the world’s largest. There we saw the diverse array of aquatic life inhabiting the waters of Southeast Asia, from the smallest jellies and exquisitely colorful tropical fish to large Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins and silvertip sharks. The aquarium was packed with visitors, including numerous children, who were doubtlessly absorbing the beauty and wonders of underwater sea life. For many of the children this may have been the beginning of their education in ocean ecology.

Singapore’s seriousness about environmental sustainability was evidenced in the Marina Barrage, an urban reservoir completed in 2008 that impounds fresh water from five rivers, while keeping seawater from entering this large catchment basin. Adjacent to the Barrage we saw a Solar Park featuring 405 panels that generate 50 percent of the power used to supply indoor lighting for structures in the area. Nearby, a so-called green roof the size of four soccer fields shielded and insulated a large pumping station located beneath the roof garden. A more modern example of government-sponsored sustainability would be hard to imagine.

Moving northward to Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang–all in Malaysia–we saw little evidence of sustainability thinking, aside from our hotels offering guests the option of not having their bedding washed daily. Street litter, especially in the poorer parts of cities, was also much more pervasive than in clean, green Singapore.

After a week in Malaysia, we flew to Phuket, Thailand, for some needed relaxation and snorkeling in the emerald-colored, clear, warm water of the Andaman Sea, whose sunsets were among the most stunning I’ve ever seen. From our hotel at Kata Noi Beach, we went by speed boat on a snorkeling excursion to James Bond Island (so-named for the shooting of a Bond film) and Khai Island. The good snorkeling was eclipsed by the multitude of tourists and tour boats overwhelming these specks of land surrounded by the Andaman Sea. The otherwise scenic beaches showed evidence of wear and tear, including empty plastic bottles, numerous cigarette butts in the sand, and Styrofoam fragments.

Our next stop was Railay Beach in the district of Krabi, Thailand. My wife and I went for a one-mile ocean swim along the picturesque coast, kayaked, and snorkeled in the pristine waters of Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi Lay Island. Underwater visibility extended at least 100 feet, and the numerous eye-catching tropical fish were seemingly outnumbered only by the tourists like us. Still, the beach needed litter-pick-up. As we had done earlier, my wife and I gathered as much of the refuse as we could carry, depositing it in the nearest trash receptacle we could find.

Beach litter and pollution are familiar to us in Laguna. What more could we and should we all be doing?

Tom Osborne, a recipient of Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award, wrote “Pacific Eldorado: a History of Greater California.”

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/sustainable-tourism-coasts-southeast-asia/feed/0Green Light: Art, Nature and Sciencehttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-art-nature-science/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-art-nature-science/#commentsFri, 01 Nov 2013 03:46:54 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=33989“Beauty will save the world,” said a character in a novel written in the late 1800s by Feodor Dostoevsky, one of the most revered authors in modern literature. Seemingly inspired by this insight, the MacGillivray family in town has long been making film documentaries that have aimed at saving dolphi...

“Beauty will save the world,” said a character in a novel written in the late 1800s by Feodor Dostoevsky, one of the most revered authors in modern literature.

Seemingly inspired by this insight, the MacGillivray family in town has long been making film documentaries that have aimed at saving dolphins and other marine creatures, and now with their One World One Ocean initiative saving the seas on which so much earthly life depends. The combination of waterscapes, aesthetics, and science–a MacGillivray Freeman Films trademark–informs and goes to the heart of the upcoming Art & Nature theme that will be explored in the months ahead at the Laguna Art Museum. Given the perils of climate change, sea rise, reef acidification, and the depletion of fish stocks nearly worldwide, the timing for the Art & Nature program is spot on. Not surprisingly, Greg and Barbara MacGillivray helped executive director Malcolm Warner and others at the museum brainstorm what should go into the themed program.

For good reason, the ongoing exhibit of “Sea Change: Tanya Aguiniga’s Bluebelt Forest” will remain a central fixture of the Art & Nature program. My wife and I were greatly impressed by the creative rendering of undersea life by the artist’s use of paper, yarn, paint, and other simple materials in combination with lighting. Another major feature of the program will be a huge drawing in the sand on Main Beach, a commissioned work by Santa Cruz artist Jim Denevan. These two artworks and more are aimed at getting all of us to contemplate the manifold intersections between the forces of nature and the artistic expressions of humankind. Plein air painting, a Laguna tradition, assuredly embodies those intersections. The Laguna seascapes and landscapes of William Wendt, Joseph Kleitsch, and others exemplify those intersections, and will be on exhibit.

As classical and timeless as these earlier works are, a new generation of sculptors, photographers, and muralists, among others, is challenging us to think anew about those points where art and nature meet, overlap, and beckon our attention. A walk through Heisler Park offers fine examples of contemporary public art linked to nature. George Stone’s sculpture of “Rock Pile Carve,” featuring a sea boulder bisected by a slab of stainless steel, comes to mind. In the same vein, Larry Gill’s and Gavin Heath’s whimsical “Tide Pool Paddleboard” consists of a concrete paddleboard bench with five imbedded, glass-covered tide pools, affording cameo views of colorful sea grasses, jelly fish, squid, and limpets.

In talking with Warner, I learned of another modernist twist in the innovative program: a look at the intersection of science with art. He met with Michael Latz, a marine biologist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, to discuss bioluminescence, that is, the ability of some sea creatures to generate their own light. Latz had worked with photographer and video artist Erika Blumenfeld on artistically rendering the bioluminescence phenomenon. Latz will share his insights on the conjunction of science and art in a panel discussion to be held on Nov. 9 at 11 a.m. at the museum.

To lend coherence to the sensory delights awaiting those attending the Art & Nature program, Kevin Starr, the former state librarian and dean of California cultural historians, will be the keynote speaker, addressing program attendees at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. The title of his talk is “Art, Nature, and the American Landscape: Pioneer Pathways Towards Defining California.” Having read his major works and heard him speak elsewhere, I know of no one more qualified than he to bring a time perspective to the engaging theme of art and nature in the Golden State.

Dostoevsky may have been right. The interweaving of art, nature, and science just may provide the beauty needed to save the world.

Tom Osborne, a recipient of Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award, wrote “Pacific Eldorado: a History of Greater California.” He is at work on a book about Peter Douglas and the California Coastal Commission.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-art-nature-science/feed/0Green Light: Momentum Rebuilding to Clean the Creekhttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-momentum-rebuilding-clean-creek/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-momentum-rebuilding-clean-creek/#commentsFri, 30 Aug 2013 17:26:29 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=32489Reportedly, on average 3 million gallons of pollutants empty into Aliso Beach daily–rain or no rain. Motor oil, fertilizers, animal dung, and more contaminate this much-used public beach and the waterway that flows into it. Imagine the impact of this on public health; put more starkly, on th...

Reportedly, on average 3 million gallons of pollutants empty into Aliso Beach daily–rain or no rain. Motor oil, fertilizers, animal dung, and more contaminate this much-used public beach and the waterway that flows into it. Imagine the impact of this on public health; put more starkly, on the unprotected children who play at the mouth of our befouled watercourse. Many are too young to read and understand the permanent postings: “Warning: Runoff/Storm Drain Water May Cause Illness. Avoid Contact With Ponded Or Flowing Runoff And The Area Where Runoff Enters The Ocean.”

For decades, those using Aliso Beach have reported skin rashes, infections, and pink eye to county officials. Add to this the impact of urban runoff on the sea life in Laguna Beach’s Marine Protected Area. This is to say nothing about the noxious smell emanating from this toxic brew.

Anyone who has lived in Laguna Beach for decades probably knows that this news is neither fresh nor disputed. The Los Angeles Times ran some 19 articles on the mess at Aliso Beach and Aliso Creek from 1997-2006, and our local press has published many more during that time and since then. No one I know in town swims at Aliso Beach, most likely for the reasons just mentioned. In short, the problem of pollution at this beach has been chronic and seemingly intractable. Governmental agencies–including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the County of Orange, and our own city council, among other bodies–have tried to make headway on a problem rooted in the rapid suburban development of South Orange County since the 1960s. Government alone–the so-called public sector–has not been able to clean up the extensive Aliso Creek watershed that reaches inland to the area around Cook’s Corner in the municipality of Lake Forest. The related problems of creek stabilization and riparian habitat restoration, meanwhile, remain. Cultural preservationists, like myself, want due care given to Acjachemem artifacts in the watershed.

The so-called “civic sector,” that is, groups of concerned citizens and individuals alike, similarly, has struggled with the Aliso Beach/Creek issue with few tangible results to show for their well-intentioned, Herculean efforts. To the credit of the Laguna Canyon Foundation large swaths of invasive Arundo donax, a bamboo-like plant that chokes the life out of native flora, are being painstakingly eradicated in the watershed.

Some elements of the private business sector in town in recent years supported an Army Corps of Engineers plan to build more than 20 drop-structure dams to contain creek overflows in wet seasons and stabilize the eroding streambed. However, the proposed $45 million project was suspended after citizens questioned the efficacy of concretizing segments of the creek while not adequately addressing the point source pollution originating from upstream cities.

All three of these stakeholder groups in Laguna Beach–the public, civic, and private sectors–are essential to solving the ongoing Aliso Creek problems. Somehow these groups must work in partnership for no single sector by itself will succeed.

Within the last year or so, I’ve seen a promising resumption of civic sector resolve to grapple with Aliso Creek matters. The Laguna Bluebelt Coalition, a recipient of our town’s Environmental Award in 2010, has been advocating for the city’s creation of a citizen-based Waste Water Task Force. Our City Council has been supportive. Presumably, such a group would craft a plan to improve the functioning of the Coastal Treatment Plant, possibly remove aging pipes in the creek bed, and provide recycled water. To participate on the task force, submit an application by Aug. 30 before 5 p.m. at City Hall.

My hope is that the task force will spark a broader, coordinated, joint effort from citizens, government, and businesses to frame a comprehensive approach for the clean-up and restoration of Aliso Creek and its environs. After all, it was the birthplace of Laguna Beach in the 1870s.

Tom Osborne, a recipient of Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award, is the author of recently published “Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California.”

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-momentum-rebuilding-clean-creek/feed/0The Write Stuff 8/30/13https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/write-stuff-83013/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/write-stuff-83013/#commentsFri, 30 Aug 2013 03:22:55 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=32462 Library Hosts Local Author Thomas Osborne, local author and columnist for Laguna Beach Independent, will be at Laguna Beach Library on Monday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. He will answer questions and sign copies of his most recent work, “Pacific Eldorado,” which will be available for...

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/write-stuff-83013/feed/5Green Light: The California Coastal Commission: My Likes and Dislikeshttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-the-california-coastal-commission-my-likes-and-dislikes-2/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-the-california-coastal-commission-my-likes-and-dislikes-2/#commentsWed, 03 Jul 2013 22:12:25 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=31389Recently I spent two 10-12-hour days at the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach’s City Council Chambers. Had my schedule permitted, I would have attended the third and final day of that meeting. I attended because of my growing interest in protecting the Golden State’s magnificent 1...

Recently I spent two 10-12-hour days at the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach’s City Council Chambers. Had my schedule permitted, I would have attended the third and final day of that meeting. I attended because of my growing interest in protecting the Golden State’s magnificent 1,100-mile coast from development-driven pollution (think Aliso Creek ocean outfall) and assuring public access to beaches. I attended for another reason as well. I am beginning a book project on the history of the CCC and Peter Douglas’s role as executive director of that quasi-judicial agency from 1985-2011.

A short list of the things I liked included:

The opportunity for public input. Some 200 citizens of Venice Beach attended, and it seemed as if they all testified on the hot issue of overnight visitor parking and camping in residential neighborhoods. The ethnic and cultural diversity of their community was much in evidence. One woman, a poet, testified entirely in verse; others in her group unfurled a large banner denouncing a measure to ban overnight parking in neighborhoods. Full of passion about the Venice vibe, referencing the community’s reputation for being free-spirited and inclusive, the self-proclaimed Venetians regaled commissioners with anecdotal pleas to defend public access to local beaches day and night.

The evidence that commissioners listened to public testimony. The Venice agenda item consumed nearly five hours. In their observations, commissioners demonstrated a remarkable recalling of public comments. Commissioner Esther Sanchez recounted a dozen key points made by speakers in the audience, while pointing out the legal ramifications of the most pertinent arguments. When public comments ended, Chairwoman Mary K. Shallenberger, who was invariably courteous and as patient as Job while keeping deliberations on track, told the filled chamber how much the commissioners appreciated the heartfelt offerings of the vast majority in the room. At the same time, she expressed a clear understanding of why residents were frustrated and angry about the noise and clutter they had to contend with due to seemingly homeless visitors camping in front of houses. Commissioners then voted to not ban overnight visitor parking in Venice until an empirically based study could determine whether public beach access would be infringed by such a ban. The thought crossed my mind about how fortunate we are in Laguna Beach to have facilities for feeding the homeless and providing a safe haven for them to sleep at night.

The seeming impartiality of the Commission in balancing competing interests. When the City of Long Beach proposed enlarging a dog park along a stretch of oceanfront both sides of the issue were heard and afterward debated in the discussion among commissioners. Concerns about pet litter, dog fights, and the disturbance of beachgoers were aired; commissioners agreed to the extension of the dog park only if specified conditions addressing these matters could be met.

The Commission’s unanimous approval of Laguna Beach’s amended local coastal program to include sea-rise protocols regarding flood hazards, and to uphold our town’s 36-foot height limit. I testified in favor of granting this approval.

The inclusivity of CCC excursions and receptions. I and others from the public were invited on an after-meeting boat tour of the Long Beach-Los Angeles Harbor complex, America’s largest. Afterward, the public was treated to a CCC-sponsored reception at the Aquarium of the Pacific where we watched the inspiring documentary, “Heroes of the Coast.” This is a must-see for Laguna’s ocean-lovers.

A list of things I did not like was short, indeed:

I was saddened to learn that Commissioner Esther Sanchez was not reappointed by Assembly Speaker John Pérez, whom I have since emailed expressing my dismay. Sanchez, a lawyer, had often crossed politically influential developers, intimated the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-the-california-coastal-commission-my-likes-and-dislikes-2/feed/0Green Light – The California Coastal Commission: My Likes and Dislikeshttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-the-california-coastal-commission-my-likes-and-dislikes/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-the-california-coastal-commission-my-likes-and-dislikes/#commentsThu, 27 Jun 2013 20:26:59 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=31289Recently I spent two 10-12-hour days at the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach’s City Council Chambers. Had my schedule permitted, I would have attended the third and final day of that meeting. I attended because of my growing interest in protecting the Golden State’s magnificent 1...

Recently I spent two 10-12-hour days at the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach’s City Council Chambers. Had my schedule permitted, I would have attended the third and final day of that meeting. I attended because of my growing interest in protecting the Golden State’s magnificent 1,100-mile coast from development-driven pollution (think Aliso Creek ocean outfall) and assuring public access to beaches. I attended for another reason as well. I am beginning a book project on the history of the CCC and Peter Douglas’s role as executive director of that quasi-judicial agency from 1985-2011.

A short list of the things I liked included:

The opportunity for public input. Some 200 citizens of Venice Beach attended, and it seemed as if they all testified on the hot issue of overnight visitor parking and camping in residential neighborhoods. The ethnic and cultural diversity of their community was much in evidence. One woman, a poet, testified entirely in verse; others in her group unfurled a large banner denouncing a measure to ban overnight parking in neighborhoods. Full of passion about the Venice vibe, referencing the community’s reputation for being free-spirited and inclusive, the self-proclaimed Venetians regaled commissioners with anecdotal pleas to defend public access to local beaches day and night.

The evidence that commissioners listened to public testimony. The Venice agenda item consumed nearly five hours. In their observations, commissioners demonstrated a remarkable recalling of public comments. Commissioner Esther Sanchez recounted a dozen key points made by speakers in the audience, while pointing out the legal ramifications of the most pertinent arguments. When public comments ended, Chairwoman Mary K. Shallenberger, who was invariably courteous and as patient as Job while keeping deliberations on track, told the filled chamber how much the commissioners appreciated the heartfelt offerings of the vast majority in the room. At the same time, she expressed a clear understanding of why residents were frustrated and angry about the noise and clutter they had to contend with due to seemingly homeless visitors camping in front of houses. Commissioners then voted to not ban overnight visitor parking in Venice until an empirically based study could determine whether public beach access would be infringed by such a ban. The thought crossed my mind about how fortunate we are in Laguna Beach to have facilities for feeding the homeless and providing a safe haven for them to sleep at night.

The seeming impartiality of the Commission in balancing competing interests. When the City of Long Beach proposed enlarging a dog park along a stretch of oceanfront both sides of the issue were heard and afterward debated in the discussion among commissioners. Concerns about pet litter, dog fights, and the disturbance of beachgoers were aired; commissioners agreed to the extension of the dog park only if specified conditions addressing these matters could be met.

The Commission’s unanimous approval of Laguna Beach’s amended local coastal program to include sea-rise protocols regarding flood hazards, and to uphold our town’s 36-foot height limit. I testified in favor of granting this approval.

The inclusivity of CCC excursions and receptions. I and others from the public were invited on an after-meeting boat tour of the Long Beach-Los Angeles Harbor complex, America’s largest. Afterward, the public was treated to a CCC-sponsored reception at the Aquarium of the Pacific where we watched the inspiring documentary, “Heroes of the Coast.” This is a must-see for Laguna’s ocean-lovers.

A list of things I did not like was short, indeed:

I was saddened to learn that Commissioner Esther Sanchez was not reappointed by Assembly Speaker John Pérez, whom I have since emailed expressing my dismay. Sanchez, a lawyer, had often crossed politically influential developers, intimated the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-the-california-coastal-commission-my-likes-and-dislikes/feed/2Green Light – Jack Meehan: From Surfer to Marinerhttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-jack-meehan-from-surfer-to-mariner/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-jack-meehan-from-surfer-to-mariner/#commentsThu, 02 May 2013 18:08:42 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=29898Our kids grow up and one day leave Laguna. Laguna, however, seldom leaves them. They go off to college armed with their wits, often our credit card (yikes!), and whatever stuck from their upbringing. Many are equipped with something else as well, an attachment to their coastal hometown and the se...

Our kids grow up and one day leave Laguna. Laguna, however, seldom leaves them. They go off to college armed with their wits, often our credit card (yikes!), and whatever stuck from their upbringing. Many are equipped with something else as well, an attachment to their coastal hometown and the sea. Such a person is Jack Meehan, 27, poised to graduate from the California Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime) this May. When that happens an eco-minded, one-time Laguna surfer will cross a threshold, becoming a Pacific mariner.

I learned about Jack through his mom, Betsy Blackburn, who recently moved into our south Laguna neighborhood. When I embarked on a San Francisco Bay Area history road trip in mid-April, Jack, whom I had not previously met, gave me a tour of Cal Maritime’s tree-studded campus, situated on the edge of the bay in Vallejo. Just before the appointed time of our meeting, he phoned my cell to make sure that we connected in front of the administration building. At the next moment a strapping young man in a Navy-style uniform strode up to me, extended his hand, and said with a welcoming smile, “Hi, I’m Jack.”

Getting acquainted, he walked me over to the simulators, which provide much of the training for these ocean pilots-in-the-making. These multi-million dollar computerized stations replicate harbor conditions, weather, and currents at ports along the Pacific Coast. Trainees are closely monitored as to how they navigate these hazards that could spell profit or loss for a future employer. Some of these students will one day be piloting oil tankers down from Alaska; they had better be trained well to avoid mishaps that could cost lives and result in spills that contaminate coastal waters and shorelines, endangering marine life and seabirds.

During the remainder of the campus tour, and afterward by email, I asked Jack questions about his career choice, his Laguna Beach years, and his environmental concerns. Having previously earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from San Francisco State University with few prospects of employment, Jack said that he wanted a “real career.” When he learned of Cal Maritime from a friend, he took the plunge and enrolled. This meant immersion in the demanding 160-unit required curriculum that includes navigational mathematics, meaning spherical trigonometry and related subjects. Add to this sea duty on T.S. Golden Bear, the training vessel that took him and classmates throughout the Pacific where they applied the navigational principles and procedures that had been drilled into them on campus. Near the end of his studies Jack passed his state licensing examination to pilot vessels, affidavit of his qualifications as a newly minted mariner.

When asked about the possibility of his piloting oil tankers, he responded: “Oil is not good for the environment, it’s as simple as that, and great care is taken nowadays to keep the oil out of the water. As a surfer, and someone who was raised in the ocean this is extremely important to me.”

I asked Jack what growing up in Laguna had to do with his chosen path of living on the water. “I was born in 1985 and my favorite photo I own is a photo from 1987 of my mom and myself on a surfboard at San-O[nofre]. She was on her knees behind me, holding my ankles, as I stood there, and we rode the wave together. As long as I can remember I have been in the ocean. Growing up in Laguna you . . . become comfortable with the water. For me it was surfing, skimming, then back to surfing. . . .The water is our sanctuary, . . . it’s why people never leave the coast.”

During his boyhood days at the beach, his mom required him to pick up five pieces of trash on the way out. From youth through the rigors of Cal Maritime, Jack Meehan has been taught well.

Tom Osborne, a recipient of Laguna Beach’s Environmental Award, is the author of recently published “Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California” (Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2013).

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-jack-meehan-from-surfer-to-mariner/feed/0Green Light: Partnering for Preservationhttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-partnering-for-preservation/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-partnering-for-preservation/#commentsThu, 04 Apr 2013 19:59:50 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=29191Preserving the California coast and its historic cottages is a big job. Often it requires the partnering of citizen activists and their groups, the California Coastal Commission, and generous donors. Such has been the case locally at Crystal Cove, nestled along the shoreline between Corona del Mar...

Preserving the California coast and its historic cottages is a big job. Often it requires the partnering of citizen activists and their groups, the California Coastal Commission, and generous donors. Such has been the case locally at Crystal Cove, nestled along the shoreline between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. Laura Davick, founder of the Crystal Cove Alliance (CCA) in 1999, attested eloquently to all of this while providing a glimpse into the Alliance’s plans for the future at the April dinner meeting of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, held at Laguna’s Tivoli Terrace on Monday.

Before she became a preservationist, Davick was a child of the cove. Her parents met there as tent campers in 1940, later moving into cottage No. 2. A cove-ite kid, she and her friends enjoyed endless So-Cal summers of surf, sand, and luaus. Thus began her lifelong experience of the place, which later blossomed into a passion to share with the public Crystal Cove’s rich history of Hollywood movie filmings, Prohibitionist-era smuggling of liquor, and California beach living.

Like sets of incoming ocean waves, successive generations and groups of people have stepped up and spoken up for the preservation of this slice of paradise. While Davick’s energy, commitment, and effective leadership, along with that of Joan Irvine Smith, have been instrumental in the success of the Alliance’s work to date, to their credit they have recognized that help came from many other partners. Laguna Beach attorney Jeannette Merrillees led the Save Crystal Cove coalition (including the Sierra Club) that battled in the 1990s to save the beachfront area from development into a major resort complex. Such a prospect was real. In 1997, state park officials approved a 60-year lease for the building of a private, high-end luxury hotel on the lines of Big Sur’s Post Ranch Inn.

What I found particularly engaging in Davick’s presentation was the practical vision she outlined in the form of plans that are underway to connect the public with the marine ecology, the architectural style of the period cottages, the historical record and meaning of the beach enclave, and the surrounding environs of Crystal Cove State Park. With palpable excitement in her voice, she ticked off the ongoing and soon-to-begin initiatives of the CCA:

The renovation of the remaining 17 cottages at a cost of $20 million. The late Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, made a personal donation of $5 million toward this end. Davick described Douglas as “a dear friend.”

The completion of an Environmental Study Loop, a 1.5 mile circuit including an amphitheater, fire pit, and ramadas (open-sided thatched structures); working with state parks, an expected 250,000 school children and visitors annually would “study geology and wind science” as well as other nature-related matters.

An ocean and beach education and conservation program in which K-12 students from 30 schools would learn about marine protected areas, such as Crystal Cove State Park, by going offshore in a boat and using a digital-camera fishing pole that would tell the children what underwater marine life inhabited the area; scientists and students from UC Irvine and researchers from peer institutions will continue using the marine laboratory facility; the program would also provide for video conferencing, plein-air painting venues, movie-making at the beach, and more.

While this partnering work goes forward, we can continue enjoying the ambience and dining at the Beachcomber, located in the Crystal Cove Historic District, or quench a thirst at the Crystal Cove Shake Shack. A stroll along the shoreline here will continue to give us an opportunity to take a step back in time.

Historian Tom Osborne’s “Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California,” was recently published by Wiley-Blackwell. His next subject is Peter Douglas and his role in protecting California’s shoreline.

]]>https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-partnering-for-preservation/feed/1Green Lighthttps://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-14/
https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/green-light-14/#commentsMon, 18 Feb 2013 18:04:13 +0000http://www.lagunabeachindy.com/?p=28052Governing as if Environmental Factors Matter Do we replace our aging roof, or refurbish the entrance gate to our home? We’re not always able to do both simultaneously. Naturally, we’ll prioritize and eventually finish both tasks. Our city government, similarly, has to make a host of decisions (inf...

Governing as if Environmental Factors Matter

Do we replace our aging roof, or refurbish the entrance gate to our home? We’re not always able to do both simultaneously. Naturally, we’ll prioritize and eventually finish both tasks. Our city government, similarly, has to make a host of decisions (infinitely more complex and numerous than those in my household, at least) about which policy and budgeting priorities it will focus on during a given year. This level of decision-making cannot be easy for any knowing public official, especially in the face of competing concerns on the part of the citizenry.

So when I read in the local papers recently that some council members are giving high, or perhaps highest, priority to the village entrance issue at this time, it got me thinking whether or not they’re on the right track. I’m sure that reasons for putting the village entrance at the head of the line could be given by many officials and leaders in our town. But is that issue a time-sensitive one? Is it a public health and safety issue? Are our property values affected measurably by when or how the matter is decided? No, no, and no again.

I’m most concerned about two issues that are time-sensitive, and definitely impact our health, safety, and property values: cleaning up Aliso Creek, and sea-level rise/flooding along Laguna’s coast due to climate change and tidal activity. Rarely are these environmental issues mentioned in City Council’s listing of urgent matters to be addressed.

The mouth of Aliso Creek and its environs is where Laguna Beach was founded; it’s the cradle of our town. Past efforts by civic organizations and various public officials to address the pollution and occasional flooding of Aliso Creek seem on hold. While multiple jurisdictions in the Aliso Creek watershed are involved, I believe that nothing good will happen unless and until our City Council takes the initiative to get a clean-up process going. If this were easy, it would have been done by now. Still, the clock is ticking while the creek’s contaminants continue polluting Aliso Beach, and the upstream watershed continues to degrade. This sure seems like a public health and safety issue to me.

The ongoing problem of sea-level rise along California’s shoreline has prompted some coastal communities, like Newport Beach, to run studies and take action to adapt to ocean encroachment on the built environment. Many in Laguna Beach, including our family, have lived here long enough to recall when El Niño conditions led to high tides that washed onto Coast Highway, necessitating sandbags to protect store fronts. Ocean levels are rising faster than scientists earlier thought would be the case. When my wife and I visited the U.C. Berkeley marine research station in Moorea, Tahiti, several months ago, we learned that some scientists now anticipate a two-meter sea-level rise by 2050 due to accelerated melting of the Arctic icecap and the expansion of ocean water volume, both of which they link to climate warming. John Montgomery, the city’s community development director, recently agreed with me about climate change and sea-level rise, and informed me that Laguna Beach has plans underway to act soon. That’s good news. To find out more about the dynamics of sea-level rise and how cities might adapt to it, I’m planning on attending UC Irvine engineering professor Dr. Brett Sanders’ talk on “Coastal Flooding,” on Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 429 Cypress Dr., Laguna Beach. Laguna Greenbelt is sponsoring the talk. The photographs on the front of the post card that came to our home announcing this event show a flooded downtown Laguna Beach. The photographs speak to priorities. If the village entrance must wait, so be it.

Meanwhile, I had better replace my aging roof; sprucing up the gate at the entrance to our home will wait.

Tom Osborne, a retired Santa Ana College history professor and recipient of the city’s Environmental Award, has just published Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California, Wiley-Blackwell Publishers.